Green tea and chocolate cheesecake

Halloween season calls for something dark, delicious, and maybe a little creepy:

I have made this chocolate cheesecake many times with great success, and I was itching to play with the recipe a little.  What I did was blend the non-chocolate ingredients of the filling, divide it in half, flavor the halves separately, and then layer them over the crust.  I used just over two tablespoons of organic matcha, smelling and tasting as I went.  Once it baked, the sugar sort of overpowered the matcha, so next time I’ll try at least three.  I’d almost rather go too bitter than come up short again because the chocolate should balance it.  That’s my theory, anyway.

The chocolate wafers in the crust recipe, by the way, are these.  If you’ve never used them, they’re often found in the ice cream section, with the cones and sauces.  I bought a package and somebody ate most of them, leaving me less than I needed for the cheesecake.  Our grocery store hasn’t gotten a new delivery of these wafers in weeks, so I scraped and crushed some Oreos to substitute.  Let me tell you: maybe don’t do that.  It tastes delicious, but there was some unusual dripping out of the bottom of the springform pan that I use for cheesecake, making a smoky mess in the bottom of the oven.  I’m just glad it didn’t drip into the homemade mac & cheese that I was cooking below!

The sugar skull is by Wilton and came in a pack of a dozen.  They looked so cute all around the perimeter of the cake, but I was too impatient with the ganache and it came out a little ugly, so no photo.  Maybe next year!